The past years have seen a dynamic change in the ability of science to comprehend vast amounts of data. Pioneering technologies such as nucleic acid arrays allow scientists to delve into the world of genetics in far greater detail than ever before. Exploration of genomic DNA has long been a dream of the scientific community. Held within the complex structures of genomic DNA lies the potential to identify, diagnose, or treat diseases like cancer, Alzheimer disease or alcoholism. Exploitation of genomic information from plants and animals may also provide answers to the world's food distribution problems.
Recent efforts in the scientific community, such as the publication of the draft sequence of the human genome in February 2001, have changed the dream of genome exploration into a reality. Genome-wide assays, however, must contend with the complexity of genomes; the human genome for example is estimated to have a complexity of 3×109 base pairs. Novel methods of sample preparation and sample analysis that reduce complexity may provide for the fast and cost effective exploration of complex samples of nucleic acids, particularly genomic DNA.